Tempest of the Hearts
by eloquentgraffitti
Summary: Unbeknownst to anyone, least of all Jackson, (who is trying to take his mind off her) an injured April is trapped in the basement of the Southern Wing of the hospital when the ceiling collapses in on it because of the storm.
1. Chapter 1

**I hesitated to publish this because I'm pretty sure there are a lot of inaccuracies as regards to ceiling collapses and proper protocols, and also the medical aspect, but I thought maybe if you could all ignore my ignorance of that and just focus on the story, it won't be so bad…so if there are**__**inaccuracies, please don't be too harsh…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy or the characters.**

"Jackson?" April said into the darkness, her voice breaking. It was almost pitch black, she could hear the dripping of a broken pipe somewhere, and she was in so much agony that she was almost numb. She had felt the blood on her stomach slowly soak in through her scrub top, and hadn't wanted to believe it. The searing pain she'd felt just as the sharp end of something pierced through her abdomen hadn't been enough, she'd needed more confirmation, and the blood had been it. She couldn't deny the wetness of it, or the rusty smell of it, and it made her want to throw up, except she didn't think she had any strength left. She called his name again, this time sounding weaker than before, but he didn't come. No one came. The battery in her phone had died a while ago. She had kept trying to call Jackson, but he hadn't picked up. She had tried to call the hospital, but just as she heard voices on the other end, she had kept getting cut off. She suspected the reception wasn't strong enough. She was alone and scared and terrified that no one would ever find her, that she'd be left to die alone in this hell hole without ever seeing anyone she cared about ever again.

Jackson shoved every thought of April out of his mind as he furiously fought to keep a patient alive. He had said something to her earlier, and he knew he had hurt her deeply. But he was also so angry with her that he didn't feel sorry about what he had said…not yet. The nurse had told him twice now that his phone was receiving calls from April but he'd told her to switch it off after the second time. Right now he was fuming, he'd be glad if he didn't see her for the rest of the day. Actually, days like this he wished he'd never _met_ her. Who knew she'd make his life this miserable? He would have been a lot happier if she hadn't gotten under his skin, and he'd be able to concentrate on this surgery the way he should. Correction. He _was _going to concentrate on this surgery the way he should. He bet_ she_ was having fun, this is her thing, emergency situation, trauma, she thrived in this kind of environment and if she was having fun, then he certainly wasn't wasting time thinking about her. It wasn't worth it.

So he concentrated on the surgery. It was all hands on deck today, so many patients had swarmed in that it was hard to keep track. The storm still raged outside, and to make matters worse, the basement ceiling on the southern wing had collapsed in on itself, and there had been a power outage in that wing almost immediately. And now he was hearing rumors that the basement might flood with storm water because of the collapse. But that's a headache for tomorrow, when they were all hoping the storm would have subsided along with the surge in patient numbers. Right now, he was just thankful that the Southern wing had been successfully evacuated, ensuring that everyone was out of harm's way. He wouldn't want to be trapped in that dark dungeon of a basement, with or without a ceiling collapse and he couldn't imagine being in there now, especially if it was being flooded. There had always been something iffy about the South wing; it was the oldest part of the hospital, and it had looked like it was going to fall apart at any moment even back when he had first started at Seattle Grace. Although the basement had been a functional part of the building previously, now it was mainly used for storing extra supplies; which had been unfortunate, since they could use all the extra supplies they could get in light of the recent emergency. But the storm had struck hard and fast, earlier than it was scheduled to arrive, and they'd gone into crisis mode instantly with almost no time for preparation.

* * *

She should never have come down here, April thought, shifting in pain. Everyone had been evacuated from the building, she and Karev had been the last ones doing a final check up, and she'd actually come out of the building with Karev and told him she had a surgery in an hour and he'd nodded and left to the pediatric ward. But the surgery had gotten cancelled at the last minute, and remembering that the ER needed a few extra supplies, she had thought if she could just get some from the basement before the worst of the storm hit, she can make it out on time without being in any danger. She'd done this to herself, she thought wretchedly. The fire inspectors had told them to evacuate this part of the hospital immediately if there's any threat of a storm but she obviously hadn't thought things through. So foolishly, she had gone in, without telling anyone, and then she had heard it.

A huge crash from above just as soon as she'd entered the basement had confirmed her worst fears, and she had made a mad dash to the outside entrance, feeling like she was in some kind of movie. The lights had started to flicker creepily before completely going off, time had literally seemed to stop and her senses had become eerily acute. She had seen everything as if in slow motion: huge cracks had appeared on the ceiling before small chunks of it had started to rain down on her, and what seemed like a volcano of debri and dust had engulfed her; then she was running blindly, not knowing where she was going, heart thudding in her chest as she heard the terrifying sounds of the ceiling collapsing, thundering down to the ground close behind her. She had seen a ray of hope, it had seemed so close, she'd seen the entrance, the lights from the main building beckoning to her, and she'd almost thought she'd made it, when a huge piece of concrete had fallen in front of her, and then she'd felt the pain, oh the pain, as something sharp went through her. She'd fallen to the ground, unable to stand from the shock of being stabbed, as much as from the pain, and even though she'd managed to pick herself up and make her way to the piece of concrete, she hadn't been able to find a way around it. Sobbing to herself, she had tried to claw at it in the dark, petrified. She had heard the thunder clash as the storm had come into full force outside and, hands bloodied and bruised, she'd collapsed against the concrete, unable to hold herself up anymore because of the pain. All she could do was lay there, breath coming out in shallow gasps, trying to stem the blood flow. What felt like something metal seemed to be penetrating her stomach, and she knew she shouldn't pull it out because the chance of bleeding out quicker would be greater. She had felt the water start to trickle in bit by bit and now it was almost covering both her legs, and she was starting to shiver, the coldness seeping into her bones. She wasn't surprised. They had been warned that the basement might flood. Her sobs had ceased into little whimpers, and her voice had gone hoarse from crying out for help periodically. Trying to forget how terror stricken she was, she let her mind wander to that afternoon, when something that had started out innocently enough had escalated into something poisonous between her and Jackson.

"_Matthew asked me to marry him" she blurted out to him. She had retired to an on-call room in the afternoon, mind convoluted with something that had happened in the morning before she had gotten paged to the hospital. The door had creaked open, shedding some light from outside and illuminating the room just enough for her to see Jackson's silhouette enter. "Scoot over?" he had asked, just like old times, when they had laid in bed together in companiable silence, staring up at the ceiling with eyes wide open, too tired to fall asleep. She had smiled slightly and moved over, feeling the mattress compress underneath his weight. She had laid her head on his shoulder, sighing as she had let her body feel how tired she was. He had whispered to her that he missed this, and she had nodded, but hadn't been able to stop herself from blurting it out._

_He had gone so still that she hadn't been able to hear him breathing. Her mind had been running a mile a minute up until that point, cloudy images of both Jackson and Matthew whirling in her head. He had gotten up slowly from the bed, and she'd panicked, getting up as well, wanting him to turn around and face her. "Jackson?" she had asked hesitatingly. "Do you love him?" his back had still been facing her, and she'd desperately wanted to see his expression, to know how he was feeling. "I- my pager went off and I couldn't give him an answer.." "Do you love him?" he'd asked again, this time with more force. "He loves me…" she had whispered and he'd turned around, an unreadable expression on his face. "You're a coward." He'd said and she had felt like she had been slapped. Her expression must have said as much, but he hadn't seemed to care. "You're willing to marry a guy you don't love, because, what, you're afraid you'll never find another guy who will be able to love you?" One side of his mouth had gone up in a sneer she'd never seen him direct at her. "You're probably right though, who would be crazy enough to love you? Except this guy, obviously." he had mocked, and had turned on his heal, throwing the words "you better tie him down as soon as possible then, he's definitely a catch. For you anyway…" casually over his shoulder as he had walked out._

Tears rolled down her cheek as she thought of how deeply that had cut into her. That was her biggest insecurity. That had _always_ been her biggest insecurity. That she would never be loved. That nobody would ever love her. And Jackson, her best friend, the one person who always stood up for her, had known that. And then she had found Matthew. He had told her he loved her and that insecurity had seemed to fade away for a bit. But the fact that she didn't feel fulfilled, that she was unable to say those words back to him still clawed at her, making her feel incomplete. And thoughts of someone else had kept sneaking in on her. Someone she used to be very close to. Someone she still couldn't stop being drawn towards, someone who had once treated her so kindly and so gently that he had been the one person who had brightened up her day for a long time. And to find out that deep down, he had been like everyone else, he had thought the same thing, that it would be crazy to love someone like her, hurt more than she ever thought possible. And yet, he was the one person who came to her mind right now, as she lay there, grasping at life, hoping upon hope that she'd be able to see his face one more time before she bled out…

* * *

Jackson finished up in surgery, satisfied that he had been able to forget all about a certain trauma surgeon in order to completely lose himself in his job, and scrubbed out, leaving the interns to close up. He was rounding a corner on his way to the ER when Karev slammed into him, knocking the breath out of both of them. "Dude, watch it!" came an irritated voice and he turned around, annoyed. "You slammed into me-" "Whatever, have you seen Kepner? We're running out of supplies in the Er-" "Nope." Jackson said, shortly. "I don't really wanna see her today…" he said, walking off, leaving a confused Karev in his wake. "Aren't you the boss of this place? Shouldn't you be worried about these things?" He called out to Jackson's retreating figure, only to get dead silence in reply.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi everyone, thank you so much for all the reviews, I didn't expect a lot so was taken by surprise a bit. **** Anyway, hope you all enjoy the update! (As always, please ignore any errors in the medical aspect, I tried to research my stuff and make it as convincing as possible.)**

Jackson strode into the ER ready to tackle another case. He was on a high from the success of the last surgery and feeling confident that he could keep April out of his mind for the rest of the day. The ER was teeming, buzzing with the hustle and bustle of patients being wheeled in, random conversations here and there and doctors and nurses yelling instructions left and right. Meanwhile, he could see the storm wreaking havoc outside with trees being bent almost double and sheets of rain being swept in with the winds.

Hunt and a team of EMT's rushed past him with a patient on a gurney and one of the EMT's, he recognized, was Matthew. He had never noticed before but the man was actually well built and taller than Jackson himself. Goofy personality aside, he had to admit the guy was attractive. Jackson could definitely see the appeal. He stared after Matthew thoughtfully, hating that once again April was on his mind. He was actually beginning to doubt himself and what he had said to April earlier. What if April really was in love with him? Could he have been wrong? Jackson shook himself, not ready to let self doubt creep in and ruin his day. Having the last word is always satisfying, and April hadn't been able to say anything back in her defense, so he had no reason to believe he was wrong. He heard a commotion coming from outside and ran towards the ambulance bay, ready to get his hands on the next patient, when he heard someone call his name.

"Avery! Have you seen Kepner? I need her here and this is _no_ time to pull a disappearing act-"

Hunt was striding towards him still in his scrubs, waving a tablet around and looking irritated. "She hasn't been in the ER since the storm started, hasn't seen to any of the incoming traumas,_ plus_ she didn't show up for a last minute surgery she was scheduled to do-"

Jackson frowned, stalling Hunt before he could say anything more. "Hang on, wait- she hasn't been in the ER _at all_? That's not-"

"Avery! Dude would you just call her or something? I'm sick of trying to find her! We need those extra supplies and she's too freakishly organized to not know where we have some…" Karev was hoofing it to the ER this time, looking majorly pissed off.

Jackson sighed, rolling his eyes. "The extra supplies were in the 5th wing basement but obviously we don't have access to that anymore." He told the paeds surgeon who stared back at him, nonplussed.

"What, and you people didn't think to get that out before the building collapsed? Are you freakin' kidding me?" Karev was getting more and more irritated by the second. "Well just call her anyway, if I know Kepner she should have her own little private stash somewhere…"

Jackson gave both Hunt and Karev an incredulous look, but they just continued to stare back at him expectantly. So much for having an April-free day, he thought. He was beginning to get a little worried himself. It wasn't like her to not show up for surgeries, and it was definitely not like her to not be around the ER, especially at a time like this. He took his cell phone out and grimaced, remembering that he had asked the nurse to switch it off.

"Alright, just gimme a sec, I'll get back to you guys…"

He turned his phone on as he walked away from the other two surgeons to find somewhere quiet to call April. He frowned, listening to it ring with no response. He knew she had kept trying to call him so he knew she would definitely pick up if he was trying to call her. So what gives? He looked up when Matthew rushed past him, and nodded at the paramedic, who immediately recognized him and swiveled on the spot to talk to him. "Hey can you give April a message from me if you see her? I've been trying her cell but can't get through. Would you tell her I've been paged to a trauma that'll take me to Seattle Pres so she may not see me for a while? I texted her too, but I don't want her to worry."

"Yeah..yeah sure thing…" Jackson nodded, a selfish part of him not wanting Matthew to know that they've been having trouble locating April as well.

"Thanks man." The paramedic gave him a wave in acknowledgment as he rushed off, and Jackson strode back into the ER, worry now evident in his face.

"Yeah, uh she's not answering her phone." Jackson sighed, hands on his hips as Hunt paged April again and instructed a nurse to call for her one more time on the P.A system.

"Dr. Kepner to the ER please, Dr. Kepner to the ER."

They all waited, expecting April to come bouncing in with some kind of excuse through the ER doors, but no perky red head with her usual cheerful smile appeared, and Karev threw up his hands in frustration, turning around to yell at everyone in the ER to quiet down. "Alright, does _anyone_ here know where the hell Kepner is?"

A nurse raised her hand timidly to say that the last time she saw Dr. Kepner she was talking about getting some extra supplies from the 5th wing basement, and Karev turned back around to face Jackson and Hunt, a serious expression on his face.

"Kepner was with me in the 5th wing the last time I saw her". He said with his voice lowered. "We did the final check up after the evacuation."

A chill ran up Jackson's spine. He took a deep breath, shoving the ominous thought that sprung up in his mind away to focus on the situation at hand.

"We finished the final check up at around 7, she said she had a surgery at 7.30 and that she was headed there right after so I can't see how…" Karev trailed off, looking at both Hunt and Jackson with a guarded expression on his face, not wanting to complete the sentence.

Hunt looked down at his tablet, scanning it for details. "No, that surgery got cancelled, but another one was scheduled last minute around a half hour after that and that's the one she didn't show up to…"

Jackson closed his eyes, not wanting to ask the question but knowing he had to. "What time did the building collapse?" he said, a forced calmness to his tone. "What?" Karev looked at him confused.

"What time did the building collapse, and what time, exactly, was her last minute surgery scheduled for?" He repeated. "I don't know, the building came down like, half an hour after we came out, it must have been around 7.40…" Karev said slowly, looking from Jackson to Hunt.

Hunt glanced at Karev then back down at his tablet. "Her last minute surgery was at eight and she never showed up for that one." he said quietly, and Jackson cursed.

"Look, there's no need to panic yet we-" Hunt started to say, when another nurse interrupted them, looking scared. "Chief? Dr. Hunt? We- there were two calls that got cut off and we didn't think too much about that but we just saw someone's left a message while there was no one at the nurse's station. You're gonna wanna listen to this…" Hunt, Karev and Jackson all leaned in over the counter to listen the message being played back, and a faint voice, sounding extremely shaky came through.

"Hello?...this…..Kep…basement…_please_….anyone? …Hel-"

There was a resounding silence, and Jackson froze, his heart in his throat. The message was chopped up, there was a lot of static, and most of the words couldn't be heard, but that voice was unmistakable. He'd listened to that same voice tease him, chide him, blame him, and soothe him through the years and he'd know it anywhere. And the key word, "_basement_", wouldn't stop ringing through his ears. "Check the number." He said, his voice strangled, wanting to be sure, and his heart sank lower and lower as the nurse read it off.

"It's April." He said swallowing, and Hunt and Karev looked at him, their expressions filled with dread. Jackson looked away, not wanting to see anyone looking at him like that right now, not when he needed hope on his side the most. Right now, he needed to be proactive, he needed to know he was doing everything to help, or he was going to go nuts.

"Alright, get me a jacket, some blankets, a flashlight and an emergency kit! NOW!" He barked at one of the nurses and she fled, returning with the requested items almost immediately. Jackson grabbed them, only one thing on his mind, and, ignoring all of Hunt's protests, sprinted towards the ambulance bay, where across from it you could see the outline of the collapsed 5th wing building through the pouring rain. He stopped short, taking a second or two to gauge the rain from the inside, and put on his jacket, his eyes still glued to the building. He was silently going mad with worry, but he knew that in order to do this, he needed all his wits about him. He turned around when Karev yelled at him to wait up.

"I'm coming with you." Karev said, walking up to him with purpose and aggressively instructing a nurse to get him a jacket and a flashlight as well. Jackson looked at the characteristically grumpy peds surgeon in surprise. "Shut up, alright, I may think she's a freak but she's, well, she's one of us." Karev cleared his throat, and Jackson nodded gratefully.

A second later Hunt strode up to them, struggling to organize his features into a relatively calm expression. "Alright I just called the fire department, they'll be here in 20 with a rescue squad..."

Jackson opened his mouth to argue but Hunt cut him off. "I know, I know, you're still going, I understand, I won't stop you. I would come myself but there's no one to handle the ER so I've requested a couple paramedics to help you out." Jackson looked around at the two men, who nodded at him, and he nodded back.

Hunt took a deep breath. "Okay. Before you go. I cannot. Stress this enough. Be mindful that the building may collapse further, which would endanger YOUR lives as well as April's if she's stuck in there. So. Whatever you do, be careful, stay alert, and stick TOGETHER. And Karev, make sure that Avery over here doesn't do anything stupid". Karev nodded, a smirk on his face.

Hunt looked at them each in turn. "Good luck. She's a soldier. One of mine. Bring her back safe." The older man gave Jackson a final nod, saying quietly "She'll be fine. I know she will."

"Thanks Hunt." Jackson looked back at the chief of surgery one more time before he, Karev and the two paramedics ran full tilt into the stormy night, making a beeline for the 5th wing, fighting through the sheets of rain assaulting their bodies. They stopped short when they reached the outside entrance, blinking away water from their eyes and squinting through the darkness, trying to see as much as they could with only their flashlights to guide them.

Jackson led the team, slipping and sliding his way down the slope that led to the basement entrance, and cursed. "Dammit, I forgot it was starting to flood!" he yelled, fighting to be heard over the rain, already up to his shins in water. The others waded around him, trying to shine their flashlights at the entrance, and Jackson heard Karev curse loudly. "What?" he yelled at him.

"It's blocked! The stupid entrance is blocked by a huge ass piece of concrete!"

"Fuck." Jackson waded up next to Karev and shined his flashlight at the corners of the entrance, which was indeed blocked by a piece of concrete.

"No, wait…" He flashed his light at the right hand corner, and they both saw a small space he could squeeze through, which wasn't blocked by the concrete. A rush of relief went through him. Looking up, he saw that part of a collapsed wall was resting on the concrete, right above the space, unable to come down because of the concrete.

He turned back to look at the others, and they waited for his instructions, wanting to know how they could help. "Alright, I'm going to try and squeeze through there, and then maybe Karev you could try coming in, I might need help. I think it's best if two of us stayed outside, just in case we want someone to update Hunt and the rescue squad." The other three men nodded, looking determined.

Jackson waded through the water to the corner with Karev at his side and gingerly squeezed through the space, holding his breath, hoping the collapsed part of the ceiling won't come down further right on top of him. He heaved a sigh once inside, preparing to call out to Karev that it was safe to come through but gave a startled yell as something gave way with a huge rumbling sound behind him, and the already half way collapsed part of the wall came down right where his head had been moments before, splashing into the water. It now completely blocked the entrance. He heard the two paramedics yell out and a string of colorful curse words from Karev from outside. "Dude, you okay?" came Karev's panicked voice and he yelled out an affirmative. His head whipped around at the sound of a moan, and he flashed the flash light around, calling out her name. "April?"

"Dude you find her?" he heard Karev yell out just as he saw her, crumpled up against the concrete in the far corner, water up to her stomach.

"Jackson?" God her voice was so weak, and seeing her like that, with the the blood swirling in red coils in the water around her abdomen knocked the breath out of him. He stumbled, having to hang on to the huge piece of concrete as he took her in, not wanting to believe he was seeing her like this. "I- I didn't think you'd come" she was saying, and he went to her, just wanting to scoop her into his arms, wanting to touch her and feel her so that he had proof that she was alive.

"Of course I came…" his voice was thick with emotion as he bent down and cradled her in his lap gently, so as not to hurt her where a metal rod seemed to be piercing her. His muscles had gone almost limp when he had seen that, and he'd had to steel himself, knowing that she needed him. He immediately began to wrap April up in the blankets, which were still dry, thank god the nurse had had the foresight to plastic bag them, and simultaneously raised his voice to call out to Karev.

"Karev, you need to get us out of here right NOW! She's bleeding too damn much! There's a...a metal rod...it's going right through her stomach, she's tachycardic and going into hypovolemic shock!" He shifted her in his arms, sitting down on a raised piece of the concrete, making sure she was away from the water, wanting her to be as dry as possible.

His heart was thudding in his chest, he knew he was panicking, but couldn't help it. Taking her hands in his, he began to rub them together furiously. She was shivering uncontrollably, her breath was shallow, her pulse was rapid - a result of tachycardia, and he could tell she was experiencing some confusion, all signs of hypovolemic shock. She was probably at the compensatory stage, which meant that they had to stop the blood loss immediately and start volume resuscitation. He reached over to the emergency kit, unzipping it with one hand, and took out a small bottle of saline that was included. Raising her head up gently with his other hand, he started talking to her softly. "You gotta drink this okay April, there, small sips, we gotta get some fluids in you…" she murmured in protest and he gently had her take one more sip before kissing the side of her head tenderly.

"KAREV!" He yelled again his voice now hoarse.

"I know man, I know…dude...you just, just gotta hang on alright, I sent the two guys, they're gonna update the rescue squad, they'll probably be here in no time, they'll knock down a part of the concrete or somethin'…they'll know what to do…just...just hang on man, we're gonna get you out..." Karev's voice was deceptively calm, and for some reason it made Jackson relax, and he pressed her to him, trying to warm her up as much as possible, not wanting hypothermia to set in, which would further complicate matters.

He was feeling sick to his stomach, but knew he had to keep talking, had to keep her conscious, at this stage he needed to monitor her constantly, and for that, she needed to be awake. "God April…why…why would you come down here? You…look at you, I can't…" he took a deep breath. She was looking up at him, as if she was trying to remember something.

"I didn't think you'd come…" she whispered again, her words slurred, and he was overcome by a violent urge to kick something.

"_Why would you think I wouldn't come?"_ he demanded almost aggressively, and then his throat closed over, remembering what he had said to her earlier. He closed his eyes, unable to put into words how sorry he was for hurting her. Seeing her like this, where her eyes told him she was struggling, even in her semi conscious state to make sense of why he had said all those things to her before was killing him. Her face was so earnest, so open, almost like a small child, not understanding why someone they trusted is now turning on them. And all he wanted to do was take away her pain, take away all the bad that has ever happened to her in her life, because she never deserved any of it. She may have been afraid of never being loved by someone else and that may have been why she had thought about saying yes to Matthew but that gave him no right to call her a coward.

She had a right to her emotions, she had a right to feel the way she did, as her best friend, he knew she had good reason to feel the way she did, and he had no right to belittle her. And he knew that it wasn't just her. He was in no place to call anyone any names when what _he_ had done couldn't possibly be labeled as anything other than cowardice. He had been unable to get out what he felt for her just because he was afraid she might not feel the same way. Because he was afraid of being rejected. They both had reasons to run the other way, but he had been the only one to lash out, to deliberately hurt, unable to control his anger.

"April…" he said, his head lowered so that their foreheads were almost touching, wanting to be as close to her as possible, but no words came out. She looked so small and so lifeless and he was terrified he was going to lose her but she was smiling up at him through her tears and what she said next damn near broke his heart, because it was as if through all this, through all of this pain she was going through, she was only thinking about him. She was trying to comfort _him_.

"It's okay…it's okay Jackson… you're still my best friend…" she whispered gently , stroking his cheek and he closed his eyes briefly, leaning his cheek into her hand, but opened them when he felt her hand go limp, pure terror going through him that he may have lost her. She looked so peaceful, her eyes were closed and her skin was so so pale. His body was beginning to wrack with sobs and he shook her gently, the words "No no no" repeatedly falling off his lips.


	3. Chapter 3

**So I'm not gonna lie, it was hard to get my head back into this after watching the finale. Sarah Drew portrayed April's terror so well that imagining Jackson's horror at April being hurt was hard because the visual of the complete opposite is burned into my brain now :S lol.**

"April? APRIL!" He was practically screaming himself hoarse at her now, willing her to wake up, but she was completely unresponsive. He frantically checked for a pulse, a rush of relief going through him as he found one, faint, but strong, and scrambled up with her in his arms, thinking he'd blast through the bloody concrete if he had to, when he heard Karev yell from outside.

"Yo Jackson, they're here man!"

And then a deep voice was talking to him, giving him instructions, and he struggled to tear his worried eyes off the unconscious bundle in his arms long enough to listen to whoever was talking.

"Son, My name is Dennis Coleman, I'm a fireman, we have a chainsaw that we're going to use to cut through the concrete, I'm gonna need you to move away from it if you can! Gimme a holler if for any reason you are stuck and cannot move!"

Jackson crouched low with April in his arms and carefully sloshed his way through the water. He had set down his flash light on a ledge somewhere and it shed enough light for him to gauge whether he was further enough away from the concrete.

"Alright, I think I'm good!" He yelled, raising his voice, hating that he actually sounded scared.

There was no way for him to mask his terror. He was trembling, his heart felt like a trapped bird inside his chest, and little by little, he was feeling strangely distant from it all: a sure sign that his body was already preparing him to face the worst possible outcome. Up until now, his mind had been playing a thousand different scenarios in his head of how this could all come to an end, but right now, it felt like an empty graveyard, eerily silent.

He held his breath for two seconds, and then the deafening sound of the chainsaw cutting into the cement filled his ears, grating his soul, and he saw the serrated edges of the blade appear through the concrete, spewing out powdery dust. It felt like he crouched there for hours, silently going crazy, waiting for that beast of a blade to cut a hole large enough for them to squeeze through.

Everything that happened after that was a slow motion blur in his head. The rescue squad guys heaving from the outside to push the cut piece of concrete in so that it splashed with a huge force into the water in front of him, Hunt and Karev both coming through with a gurney, taking April from his reluctant arms and strapping her in, him pacing outside in the hallways like a mad man waiting for them to do numerous scans on her to assess the internal damage, the mad rush that ensued to get her to surgery as soon as possible, and the one image that he would never be able to erase from his mind as he watched from the gallery above:

April hemorrhaging on the operating table and the surgeons going into a frenzy, trying to stop the bleeding.

He did not remember going berserk and yelling obscenities at a stoic looking Karev as he tried to fight the paeds surgeon tooth and nail to let him go into the operating theatre. Nor did he remember the bruised fist coming straight at him and the flash of pain as a blow landed on the left side of his head, knocking him out.

What he did remember was coming to on a hospital bed, a worried Stephanie looking down at him and a beaten up Karev hovering at the back, looking about ready to fight him again if he had to.

"Apr- April…" He croaked, his speech slurred.

Stephanie exchanged a look with Karev, and looked back down at him.

"She's still in surgery…they're cautiously optimistic…" she said reaching out to stroke his cheek, but he quickly turned his head, wincing as he felt a streak of pain go through his skull, knowing he had to get out what he had to say sooner or later, and it might as well be sooner.

"Stephanie I can't…" He closed his eyes, feeling disoriented. His head was throbbing, but he needed to get out from this bed, to go to her, to see her again.

"I can't…it's, it's April, it's always been April…you and I…we can't…"

He opened his eyes to see her looking down at him with a half disgusted, half pitying look on her face.

"Got it." She said shortly, turning and taking a few steps towards the door, but then turning back.

"Just so you know, I think you are a useless TOAD for stringing me along, and you and her better get your shit sorted out before you drag anyone else's lives into the sorry mess that's yours."

And with that, Stephanie Edwards, surgical intern and apparent couples therapist extraordinaire had turned on her heal and marched out, head held high.

Karev raised an eyebrow from his spot at the doorway, looking impressed as he watched Stephanie disappear down the hall.

"So. How's it going, useless _TOAD?" _

Karev gave an evil cackle whilst coming towards Jackson and Jackson glared at him, taking in the cut lip and battered face the other man sported.

"Look man, I didn't mean to-"

"Yeah, whatever…" Karev said dismissively, and then had the gall to look a bit gleeful. "I got you real good though."

It was Jackson's turn to say "Yeah, whatever…"

Jo suddenly appeared in the door way and Alex immediately went to her, the two of them talking in hushed voices until Jackson couldn't take it anymore.

"What? What's going on?" He said loudly, and Alex turned, an unreadable expression on his face.

"She's out of surgery, they managed to stop the bleeding and patch her up, she's still out of it but it's looking good so far."

Jackson felt his limbs go limp, his face stretching in a wide smile. "That's my girl." He whispered, almost to himself. He hadn't realized how tense he had been up until now, and the relief he felt upon hearing the good news was nothing short of remarkable. The dark cloud that had been hovering over his life had suddenly lifted, letting in light, and all was right with the world again. "She made it." He grinned, and Karev gave a lopsided smile.

"Yeah, she did." He nodded.

* * *

Karev hadn't been able to stop him. Jackson couldn't believe that the guy had actually tried to convince him to stay in bed for awhile longer, throwing out dumbass reasons like how they should monitor that blow to his head some more, telling him that it's a big deal to get punched out by Alex Karev and that he shouldn't be taking it lightly. But Jackson had finally managed to get rid of him and had hot footed it all the way to the room April was resting in, only stopping to talk to Hunt on the way. The trauma surgeon had only had good news to say about April, further lessening Jackson's fears, and was confident she would make a full recovery. April was a fighter, he'd said, which wasn't surprising, because when push came to shove, April _always _soldiered on. Something or the other might set her back a time or two but one thing she never did was surrender, and Jackson admired that about her.

He was just about to go in to her room, when he bumped into none other than April's paramedic Matthew. The man looked like a nervous wreck. Jackson only had to take one look at him to know what the guy was going through, and he could sympathize with every emotion that crossed the man's face. They were both in love with the same tiny red head who clearly had them both wrapped around her little finger.

Matthew spotted Jackson coming his way and swallowed, walking towards him with his hand outstretched.

"They told me what you did, I could never thank you enough…"

"Yeah, no it's okay, don't mention it."

Jackson shook his hand, feeling a bit guilty. Matthew clearly looked oblivious to any undercurrents that existed between him and Jackson, while Jackson couldn't help but feel that there was something heavy in the air between him and the paramedic. Much like how he had kept his relationship with April a secret from Stephanie, April had apparently kept her relationship with Jackson a secret from Matthew. To Jackson, his bond with April was special, untouched, and pure. Telling Stephanie had felt like he was stepping on sacred ground, so he'd kept it to himself. He wondered whether April felt the same.

The two men stared at each other, not knowing what to say, feeling a little uncomfortable. They were both aware that the worst of it was now over, both felt extremely relieved, but didn't quite feel like they knew each other enough to express it. Jackson opened his mouth, unable to stand the silence any longer, thinking he'd say the first thing that came to his mind, when Matthew's pager went off, beeping loudly and startling both of them. Jackson looked on as the paramedic stared down at the tiny object in his hand, looking torn.

"Another page?"

"Uh…yeah, I already didn't respond to the previous two, their short on men and the pages have been non-stop…"

Matthew sighed, bending his head and scratching the back of it. "The last time I talked to her I was proposing to her, and that got cut off by one of her pages, and now…" He shook his head. "I just can't leave her…I just keep thinking what if, you know…what if this is the last time I see her…" The man's words ended in a whisper, and Jackson immediately felt his pain.

"She's stable now you know…they're confident she'll make a full recovery. We're gonna be constantly monitoring her and assessing her progress. She's out of the woods now, so…"

Jackson left that sentence open ended, wanting Matthew to make up his own mind about whether to stay or not, but at the same time knowing that he was encouraging the guy to leave by reassuring him. He hated himself for doing it, but couldn't help himself. It's a strange feeling when you are completely aware of your own ulterior motives but can somehow convince yourself that you're doing the right thing, he thought.

Matthew stood there for a minute or two, clearly having difficulty making the decision until his pager started going off again, and he glanced at Jackson, looking miserable.

"Alright, I'm just…I'll be back as soon as I can…just tell her that if she wakes up, okay?"

Jackson nodded, unable to refuse, and watched Matthew as he entered April's room to gently brush a kiss on her lips, feeling a small surge of jealousy going through him. He ducked his head as the paramedic came back out, not wanting him to know he had been looking, and looked back up as the man went by him, giving him a faint smile.

He stood outside the room for a second, then took a deep breath and approached April's bed, bracing himself for what she might look like. He smiled down at her sleeping face, noting that her cheeks seemed to be gaining some color, and that she didn't seem to be looking as weak . She had given him a good scare, and he never wanted to see her look so frail again. It did things to his heart that he wasn't ready to deal with yet.

"Hi beautiful…"

He whispered, tracing her lips with his finger and looking down at her abdomen, where her gown hid her bandages.

He suddenly felt a little unstable again, the memory of the metal rod piercing her flashing through his mind. God, he had so much to tell her, so much to apologize for. He had hurt her, deeply, and knowing that she had been thinking that he wouldn't be coming for her was heartbreaking. It meant that she thought he'd washed his hands off of her good and clean, that he didn't care anymore, maybe even thought that he never cared at all, and he had to convince her that she was wrong. Tell her that all his words meant was that he cared _too much, _that it hurt _too much_ to see her even think about saying yes to another man, and so he had lashed out, wanting to hurt her like she had hurt him.

He didn't know how long he stood there, her hand in his, pressing kisses on it now and then, but it must have been long, because Bailey came in looking stern and ordered him to go and get some rest. When she couldn't make him budge an inch she came back with a cot and this time, in a gentler voice, told him to get in, and that April wasn't going anywhere.

Sometime in the middle of the night he woke up to see her wide awake, her doe eyes glistening in the moonlight that was streaming in through one of the windows, looking straight at him.

"Hey" he breathed from his spot in the cot, feeling so happy he couldn't contain it.

"Hey" she whispered back, smiling slightly, and stretched out her hand so that he could take hers in his.

"Thank you" she said shyly. And he grinned wide, assured that she really was back.

"You're welcome…" he whispered, knowing what she was trying to thank him for, and also knowing that he didn't need to be thanked. Going to her and being there for her in her time of need was as natural to him as breathing, and she never ever needed to thank him for that, it was who he was.

She smiled at him again, and he watched, his heart in his eyes, as hers drooped closed, and held her hand as she fell back asleep.

* * *

April woke up the next morning feeling woozy from all the pain meds. There was a bitter taste in her mouth that won't go away and she felt as if she'd been hit by a ten ton truck. She looked over and saw Jackson sprawled in the cot next to her bed and smiled, looking at the dark eyelashes lining those gorgeous eyes of his, now closed, fast asleep. She frowned, seeing the bruises on his face and reached out a hand to touch them, stroking them tenderly, wanting to soothe him. He moaned in his sleep and she touched her fingers to her lips and pressed them against his, badly wanting to physically press her lips against his but knowing she had to settle for this.

She turned her head around, seeing that the TV in her room was on, and started staring blankly at the news lady on the screen, not really paying attention, when a rush of memories overtook her. She remembered being trapped in that dark, murky basement, and felt her heart begin to beat harder, a feeling of claustrophobia threatening to overwhelm her. And then she remembered her last thoughts before losing consciousness. Jackson. She'd told him they were still friends. She frowned. _Still? _Why would she say that? She closed her eyes, as she let the rest of the memories wash over her, and felt her heart squeeze.

Still friends. They can't still be friends. Not after what he'd said to her, not after she had come to know that he thought of her like everyone else. He'd said no one would be crazy enough to love her, except Matt. She felt the tears sting her eyes again, and took in a shuddering breath, steeling herself to the image of Jackson that was swimming around in her head. She couldn't let him get to her anymore, she thought to herself. She could see how vulnerable she had been before, letting him in and letting herself get hurt. So the best thing to do would be to close herself off.

She felt Jackson stir and ignored his movements, seeing from the corner of her eye that he had gotten up and had come to her.

"Hey…" he whispered, reaching out and brushing a strand of her hair out of her face.

"I remember…" she said, still staring at the TV, and not looking at him. Her voice had a coldness to it that he had never heard before, and when she looked at him, her eyes seemed vacant. The bubbly April that he used to know didn't seem to be there anymore; instead it was replaced by a stone cold hardness that sent a chill through him.

He tried to take her hand in his, but she quickly pulled it away from him, looking stubborn. He had a feeling where this was going, and it wasn't anywhere good. He'd hoped he would have time to talk to her right when she woke up, before she had time to think, but he had clearly missed that train.

"I remember what you said to me that…that day. You…you're just like everyone else…"

"No- April, wait…" he interrupted, trying to get a word in.

"I don't think we should be friends anymore…" she whispered, letting the vulnerability she felt in her heart overtake her for just a second and looking at Jackson with hurt in her eyes.

Jackson sucked in a breath. It never failed to surprise him how much it affected him to see her look at him like that.

She licked her lips, starting to speak again.

"I..I can never repay you for saving my life, I know, and I don't even know why you came to find me, maybe you felt guilty…"

"No- you don't under…"

"But Matthew loves me. Yeah, he's _crazy enough_ to love me." She said, throwing his own words back at him and he winced.

"Look-" He said firmly, determined to get out what he had to say this time, when he saw her eyes shift to something or somebody down the hall, and the next word that came out of her mouth made him grit his teeth.

"Matthew!"

April was positively beaming. A little too much, he thought, noting with satisfaction that she was forcing it a bit. Jackson turned around to see the paramedic coming down the hall. Seriously, the guy had the worst possible timing.

"This isn't over…" He whispered, dropping a soft kiss on her forehead and taking a minute to breathe her in, feeling her go still. He let his gaze settle on her lips, watching as she licked them nervously, and threw caution to the winds, daring to bend down and kiss her full on the mouth, his tongue snaking out to lick her upper lip, knowing that the partially closed door would shield them from Matthew. He felt her breath hitch, and straightened up satisfied, knowing that she had felt the same desire he did. He stood there for a while, looking down at her, matching her stubborn look at him with one of his own.

"We're not over yet…not by a long shot…"

Jackson's voice slid over her like liquid heat, and she shuddered, closing her eyes, knowing that if he turned on his charm on her, she wouldn't be able to resist. She waited for a beat and slowly opened them again, sighing in relief to see his tall figure disappear down the hall.

She was so busy staring at Jackson's retreating back that she didn't see Matthew until he was standing over her, a huge bouquet of roses in one hand and a wide toothed grin on his face.

"Hi babe" He greeted, and she accepted the roses, smiling up at him but strangely feeling empty inside...

**I want to thank everyone for all the reviews/favorites/follows. You are all amazing! Also want to say that I'll be going on vacation to a place with limited internet access for the next few weeks, so please be patient as I will update when I can! **


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